“Despicable Me 2” Reader Talkback

Despicable Me 2, which debuted in the United States on Wednesday with a mammoth $34.3 million, is headed into what is guaranteed to be a huge opening weekend. The film is the fourth effort from Illumination Entertainment, the studio run by Chris Meledandri, who is the former 20th Century Fox Animation president responsible for films like Ice Age and Horton Hears a Who!.

Critical reaction to Despicable Me 2, directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud, has been decent though not spectacular, which is quite similar to another recent animated follow-up, Pixar’s Monsters University. The critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes stands at 75% with an audience rating of 89%. Variety labeled the film an “endearing if slightly less inspired sequel,” while the NY Times stated that it was “consistently diverting and so cute you’ll want to pet it” while cautioning that “it is also weightless and lacks a center.” The note sounded by most critics is that it’s ultimately a likeable film, as summed up by the Village Voice: “It’s breezy and affable without ever going completely soft.”

And now it’s your turn. After you see the film, report back here with your thoughts in the comments below. As always, this talkback is reserved for readers who have seen the film and wish to share their views with others in the animation community.

Amid Amidi is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Cartoon Brew. Read his full bio HERE.

Uli Meyer

I saw it a couple of weeks ago in the Uk and thought that Despicable Me 2 is a surprisingly enjoyable film, held together by a nicely paced string of very funny gags carrying you all the way through the movie. An odd mix of cute and outrageous which works really well. Little subtle nuances in the animation often make the gags work and that applies especially to Gru’s three little girls. The film is not over-designed and easy to look at. And what made me smile throughout is the fact that Gru’s girlfriend Lucy is the spitting image of my wife Lisa!

Toni

I saw it today and it was good and there were a lot of laughable moments but the plot seemed significantly weaker and they relied too heavily on the humour of the minions. Still entertaining but the original was a significantly stronger film.

I agree on the plot being kinda weak but nevertheless I enjoyed it a lot! The animation is superb and it’s just so freaking adorable! The Despicable Me Happy Meal toys here in the Philippines are sold out even before the movie premiered. And believe it or not, mostly teenagers were the patrons of the toys. Including me. Haha! I’m going to see this again just because it made me really happy. And I loved the 3D effects!

Skip

Saw it yesterday. Over all I liked it, possibly even more than Monsters University. The audience was full, and everyone there was clearly entertained, is sounded like the kids were laughing just as much as the adults.

That’s said I did have a couple of issues with the film, mainly with the main character. Gru is no longer a Villain which seems to have lost an element to his character (at least for me). Can it really be called Despicable Me anymore, when the Character ceases to be Despicable. It felt like the character lost some of his edge, which is what really appealed to me about him in the first place. Another issue that I had with the film was that there were a lot of characters that were necessary in the first film, but were kind of irrelevant in this one. The best part of the film in my opinion was El Macho, I’m not sure how much time he spent in the film, but it didn’t feel like enough, I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie about that character, he was awesome.

Even after all of my criticisms I still really enjoyed the film. I just hope that Gru gets some of his edge back for any future sequels.

purin

Minions and Visual gags: The Movie!

I had some issues with it (okay, movie, I get it! Agent Wilde is quirky!), and it definitely is a much sillier plot this time, one which is really there as an excuse for hilarity to ensue, and I laughed a lot watching it.

Moonie

Enjoyed it, but didn’t really like Lucy’s character progression (though she herself was great – i just didn’t really get how she went from “taking down a supervillain and kidnapping him and two of his henchmen without breaking a sweat” to “getting tied to a rocket and doing absolutely nothing.”)
“I swear” and a couple other minion scenes were painful, but I was expecting that.
The girls were fantastic. I hope they get a bigger role in the inevitable DM3. (Though I suppose that also depends on Minions doing well.)

SarahJesness

Yeah, that bit about Lucy was kind of annoying. Very common with female love interest characters, really.

Also agreed on the girls. I only wish they had a bit more to do in this film, I really enjoyed the scenes that they were in.

I’m just out of cinema and still out of breath. Haven’t laughed that much for a long time. I don’t care much about story or character development – that was solid enough. I was just there for the fun, and the film delivered. Finally some animation directors who really exaggerate – and then some. The audience was very happy, very few children between all the adults.

JoelCave

Pretty fun with enough silly moments, though the romance thing was often strained. Not all the gags worked, and I thought the minion moments got tiresome by the end of the film, but obviously kids loved them. Found it more enjoyable than Monsters Uni though.

Roberto González

It was ok, but I don’t think I will watch it again. The visual humor was funnier this time around and the characters are likeable, some of them probably even more than in the first film. I don’t think I found Agnes extremely lovable in the first one but she had some really nice moments in this one. Edith is dull and Margo is nice but I didn’t care about her love story too much.

The plot with the anti-villain league seemed interesting at first but it was just an excuse to introduce Lucy Wilde. That said I enjoyed Lucy. It had all the characteristics that makes “new” Lola Bunny occasionally funny but it didn’t have her most annoying qualities. She was more intelligent than Lola and that made her more likeable.

The Minions were overused and the plot was a little contrived to that effect. The movie was changing focus a little too much from the minion plot to the other things and while everything was kind of related I didn’t find El Macho or his son very interesting, though the first one delivered a few laughs during his dance sequence and the absurdity of the rocket/shark/volcano thing.

I didn’t really like the first one that much but overall it was a bit better. This was funnier, I laughed a lot during the very last sequence with the minions (not the credits, but the last scene in the actual movie), but it lacked structure. It’s decent to entertain the kiddies, but it looks like wasted potential to me. They have a lot of things right but the movie is forgettable because of its randomness.

I had a few issues with Monsters University but it’s clear to me that it was the better film. And I found it funnier.